Securities Litigation News

The lawsuits accuse JPMorgan Chief Jamie Dimon of doing precisely what he did, just not fast enough. They accuse him of delaying the announcement as part of a fraudulent scheme to prop up JPMorgan stock between early April, when investors first learned about the “London Whale” roiling derivatives markets, and May 10, when Dimon first disclosed the loss.

The key detail in the two securities fraud complaints filed so far against JPMorgan Chase isn't that CEO Jamie Dimon told analysts that news reports about the bank's risky credit default swap position were a "tempest in a teapot." Even though that's the statement both complaints pinpoint as best evidence so far of the bank's alleged deception, to understand the shape this litigation is likely to take, you have to check out the class period both complaints assert. It's unusually short for a securities class action, beginning on April 13 -- when Dimon made the fateful "tempest" comment -- and ending on May 10, the day the bank disclosed losses of $2 billion in CDS trades, with more to come.

Two shareholder lawsuits were filed late Tuesday against J.P. Morgan Chase Co. and its top executives over the revelation last week that the bank had suffered more than $2 billion in trading losses.

Bank of America shareholders who want to scuttle a proposed $20 million settlement of derivative claims arising from the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch have been thwarted again. On Monday U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan, who must decide whether to approve the settlement, rejected requests by the objectors to intervene and replace the lead plaintiffs and their counsel.